Summertime

You may have noticed a flurry of activity on the Updates page in RealWorldMath.org. With the end of the school year, I finally found the time to add some lessons and make adjustments to the site.

The first addition was an exercise that revolves around the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Estimates is a lesson on estimating area that uses image data from NOAA. Google Earth's lines of latitude and longitude serve as the grid for two estimation techniques. I also designed two versions of the platform with SketchUp to serve as the focal point of the lesson. The first model is a cross-section of the drilling operation; it can serve as an instructional mode. The second is a model of the Deepwater Horizon that can be loaded into Google Earth at the scene of the accident. Hopefully the crisis will be resolved by the end of summer.

Three of the new lessons use SketchUp as the tool of instruction. A four color map investigation led to an introduction of tessellation. SketchUp proved useful to accomplish these two-dimensional activities but it is the third dimension where it excels best. Thus, SketchUp's ability to model 3-D buildings for Google Earth is used in a project-based learning activity. If that isn't enough, there are two more Google Earth tutorials made with Xtranormal's animation creator: Adding a Polygon and Managing the View.

In the next month, I'll be traveling to the ISTE convention in Denver and attending the first Google Geo Teachers Institute in Mountain View, California. I hope to gain more knowledge to improve the RealWorldMath website and meet a lot of interesting people. Keep checking the website and this blog. You should see a constant growth in the year to come.

New year - new lesson

Another year has passed and I don't know if I can say that I'm going strong but the RealWorldMath.org seems to keep finding users. The counter now shows over 66,500 viewers, so either I find around 20,000 users each year or I have a lot of repeat visitors. I hope it's some of both. I continue to get messages from around the world and for those I am grateful. Please give me feedback on how the lessons worked for you or what you'd like to see in the future.

To commemorate the anniversary of the site, I've added a new lesson: The Iditarod Challenge. This lesson has students calculating and adding elapsed time in a virtual sled dog race across Alaska. This is a long term activity that doesn't take a lot of classtime to do but it will last at least a month.

I've also added some Google Earth tutorial videos. These were made by me using the animation creator at xtranormal.com. The videos are in Google Earth Kmz file format because they are intended to be viewed within Google Earth. Students will be able to look over the Google Earth toolbar and side menus as the videos make reference to them. You can view all of the above on the Updates page.

Too many things to do and too little time, but I hope I can get more lessons up this year. Don't forget that you are invited to submit your creations to the website also. Enjoy the site and I hope to hear from you soon.

Inspiration lies at the tip of your nose

Well, it's taken awhile, but a new Kmz is available on RealWorldMath.org. The Iditarod Challenge activity had been in development for several months. People have asked where I get ideas for some of the lessons, so this might serve as a good example.

My daughters are strange. They enjoy Disney movies, but they like nature documentaries, Cirque du Soleil videos, etc. just as much. I rented The Discovery Channel's 6-part documentary Iditarod: Toughest Race on Earth, and my kids were hooked. Alaska is a bit different than Guam, so it was an educational experience for them just to see someone who is cold. They quickly got caught up with the terminology and strategy of sled dog racing, as well as the personal stories of the mushers. Somewhere along the way something clicks in my head.

First, I looked at Alaska in Google Earth. The views in Google Earth of populated areas are very good but often remote regions don't get the same quality of imagery. Alaska is one of those places. It looks a bit like a patchwork quilt; some areas are snow covered and some appear to be in a fall bloom. I also looked at the terrain from a low viewpoint. The lesson I have in mind is a virtual dog sled race.

Distances between Iditarod checkpoints are a set value, so using the ruler tool across 1,000 miles of Alaska didn't seem like a good idea. I decided the distance formula would lend itself best to find the traveling times between checkpoints. No two dog teams are alike but that doesn't help in creating a standard for a class. If the rate is given then the only variable to solve for is time. So, the lesson is primarily about calculating and adding elapsed time.

Next I start educating myself on the subject and creating the Google Earth file. I was fortunate to find online a good mapping of the route the race takes, so I created a path and starting marking the race checkpoints. I found some race data from the past that gave the distances between the checkpoints and average rates traveled. Around here I realized that every student would finish at the same time using the given values, provided they did everything correctly. Thus, Fortune Cards were added to the lesson: some sort of situation is drawn from a deck that affects the rate of travel. Cold weather adds speed to the sled while diarrhea slows the dogs down. Now the race has become a game of chance but the lesson's objective stayed the same.

I try to add more to my lessons than just math ideas. In this case, it is a geography lesson on the race event. Subjects such as the dogs, how the race is managed, how does a sled work, etc. become secondary objects to the lesson. The Discovery Channel video was a good primer, but I spent days researching the Iditarod and deciding on the best sources of information available on the web. This would include Iditarod.com - The Official Site of the Iditarod, and ultimateIditarod.com, both tremendous sites with loads of information. I ended up gathering so much information that I added placemarks to the lesson to hold it. So, I decided a WebQuest would have to be a part of the materials included with the lesson. I want the students to link themselves to the event without a lot of direction. In my mind, this provides them with an opportunity for self-education and a chance to construct meaning out of the lesson. This is one of the primary goals of Real World Math.

Now the hardest part is assembling all of the information in an attractive package that works. HTML script is written for all of the placemarks, links need to be made and tested, and any paper work has to be created. I scour the Internet for photos for embellishment. The tricky part about that is I don't use unauthorized material, so I need to find photos that are not copyrighted. Wikipedia normally has these types of photos and if you can find anything done by the government you're good to go. I try to always give credit to any site whose material I use, and I provide a link to their page.

Finally, it's time for testing and my classes are normally the best way to do this. After the activity is over, I may make refinements to the materials, but more importantly I need to consider how to assemble it for public consumption - you! It isn't that hard to come up with lesson ideas. The hardest part is finding the time to put it all together.

1 year Anniversary

RealWorldMath.org is celebrating its first year anniversary this month. I was surprised and greatly pleased when the hit counter reached 10,000 in September. This number more than doubled in the next 6 months and is currently climbing towards 40,000. I never imagined it would reach so many people. Another surprise was the feedback I have been getting has been global with comments from Australia, Europe, and other places. Please keep sharing your RealWorldMath experiences with me so that I can know what is working and how I can improve the site.

My regret of the past year is that I haven't had as much time to add lessons to the site as I would like to. Summers are golden for teachers so I hope to do more in a few months. Also, I have not received any lesson submissions or ideas from users. I was hoping that the site would become a community effort, so the lack of this disappoints me. Please try your hand at designing your own Google Earth math lessons or activities and share them with the rest of us.

What does the future hold? I have already added a lesson that uses Vocaroo audio recordings in the placemarks. I am currently working with Xtranormal movie animations and plan on including this in the future as well - perhaps in a set of Google Earth tutorials. So, combining other web tools with Google Earth is the direction I am heading. I am also planning on adding lessons that are more simplified, as some of those currently available may be too complex for the casual user.

Again, thanks for your interest in RealWorldMath. Keep the comments coming. With your involvement, the site can truly grow and evolve into something special.

Video Games vs. Education

While teachers and schools struggle to bring technology into the classroom, children seem to have no shortage of cash or time when it comes to video games. Computer and video games are a multi-billion dollar industry that produces hundreds of new games each year. No doubt, the best and brightest minds are spent in this endeavor so I wonder how it compares to education? How many technology professionals are producing educational software each year? How much money goes towards designing educational products?

No doubt, the video cards are stacked against us. There's no money in education, right? These companies have every right to profit from children and their parents for entertainment dollars. The problem is that our society doesn't put a premium dollar towards education. We have plenty of money for movie tickets, ballgames, amusement parks, DVD's, flat panel TV's, and video games, etc. etc. ... but not enough to spend on a tax increase that would benefit education?

One game, Grand Theft Auto IV, reportedly cost around $100 million to make. Over a thousand people contributed to its creation. If RealWorldMath.org has any redeemable qualities and it was something I could make, then I wonder what the gaming industry could produce?

Below are some facts taken from the Entertainment Software Industry website.

• Sixty-five percent of American households play computer or video games.
• U.S. computer and video game software sales grew six percent in 2007 to $9.5 billion – more than tripling industry software sales since 1996.
• The average game player is 35 years old and has been playing games for 13 years.
• Thirty-six percent of heads of households play games on a wireless device, such as a cell phone or PDA, up from 20 percent in 2002.
• Eighty-five percent of all games sold in 2007 were rated "E" for Everyone, "T" for Teen, or "E10+" for Everyone 10+.
• Ninety-four percent of game players under the age of 18 report that their parents are present when they purchase or rent games.
• Sixty-three percent of parents believe games are a positive part of their children’s lives.

PacMan image taken from http://www.zethama.com/onlinegames/arcade.php

Sail the Seven Seas

Lorraine from Classroom 2.0 has suggested an interesting web activity for students.

Hello,
On the ninth of November, 30 skippers from seven different countries will embark on an epic singlehanded voyage around the world. Skipper Rich Wilson will be the only US sailor in this race. One of his primary purposes of his voyage will be to connect with students and teachers around the world to share this learning experience with them via his http://www.sitesalive.com website where he will post blog entries, photos and videos I have followed Rich on 3 of his previous voyages with my students. The energy and excitement of coming 'on board' for the race has been an incredible learning experience for my students and me. Vincent Mespoulet has set up a Ning so that teachers can join and follow this voyage from across the planet. I invite you to join the Ning and share in the excitement of the Vendee Globe with our teacher at sea, and students and teachers across the globe.
http://horslesmurs.ning.com/group/vendeglobe2008

This event would work nicely with Google Earth. Consider having students plot the skipper's course as he sails around the world!


Skipper Rich Wilson

RWM Tops 10,000

As a person new to web publishing, I am excited and encouraged that the Real World Math website had 10,000+ hits over the summer. While this number may not seem large in relation to other sites, I am pleased that so many people have viewed it in its first four months. I hope a large portion of those visitors are now actually implementing the lessons in their classrooms. As always, any feedback on the website or lesson materials is greatly appreciated.

I am introducing RWM lessons to a new batch of students this year. So far, the students have reacted positively to any effort that takes them outside of their math textbooks. Unfortunately the first lessons normally turn out to be an exercise on synchronizing e-mail accounts. To anyone starting out there, I recommend having your students create a Gmail account specifically for the purpose of receiving and submitting school assignments. As mentioned in the previous post, I have taken the approach of teaching Google Earth skills as part of the first activities. The students have learned how to send Google Earth kmz files via e-mail, create and annotate folders, and draw paths. I am confident this preparation will help to eliminate problems in future lessons.

Good luck with the lessons and keep the hits coming!